Who could have thought that a social media giant such as Twitter would see a decline in the number of tweets by its most active users? Could it be because users are shifting towards more visual platforms such as TikTok and Instagram? Or could it be because of the tussle between Elon Musk and Twitter? Let’s find out.
According to an internal analysis seen by Reuters, the number of “heavy tweeters,” which Twitter classifies as users who use the platform six or seven days a week and tweet at least three times per week, has been in “total decline” since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak.
What’s Really Happening?
According to Reuters, interest in traditional areas that are popular with advertisers, such as sports, news, and entertainment, has decreased among English-speaking frequent users, although interest in cryptocurrencies and pornographic “not safe for work” content has increased.
At the same time, those consumers’ interest in news, sports, and entertainment is dwindling. Tweets about those subjects are the most appealing to advertisers, contributing to Twitter’s reputation as the world’s “digital town square,” as Musk famously put it.
The internal documents by Reuters reveal that even though they only account for less than 10% of all monthly users, “heavy tweeters” are said to be in charge of 90% of tweets and 50% of the company’s revenue.
The accounts that tweeted about celebrities like the Kardashians appear to have lost the most subscribers, with the business apparently observing a “devastating” fall in that sector, presumably as a result of consumers switching to YouTube, Instagram or TikTok.
This week, research by the Pew Research Center revealed that an increasing proportion of US adults frequently use TikTok for news.
The study claims:
“Via 3% in 2020 to 10% in 2022, the percentage of U.S. adults who say they routinely acquire news from TikTok has more than tripled in only two years.”
That timetable is consistent with the purported slowdown in Twitter activity related to the news. The study found that, compared to prior years, 26% of US adults say they routinely get news on TikTok.
One-third of American consumers who use TikTok say they frequently visit the website for news. On other social media platforms, however, news consumption has decreased or kept the same.
Twitter is expected to respond to this study and we think the issue might be deeper than anyone can fathom. One, where Twitter might have to repurpose the existence of the platform. However, we will keep you updated on the latest happenings related to this discovery so stay tuned.
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